Music and Madness
This evening, I stopped by Borders on my way back to my room to pick up a cup of chamomile tea to go. As I walked into the cafe, I heard acoustic guitar music; a gentleman was sitting in the corner playing easy listening and light classical music. The first piece I heard was a Carpenters composition, “We’ve Only Just Begun”, which took me back to my very first album ever in junior high.
I love acoustic guitar - easy listening, classical, Spanish, bluegrass - so I sat down to drink my tea and listen for a few minutes. On the way out I wandered by to put money in the musician’s tip jar; he offered me a home-labeled CD for my tip, and I thanked him for both the happiness-inducing music and the CD and headed out.
On the way back to my room I was thinking — I need to get my guitar out again, and begin playing. I need to learn some pieces so well, that when I need therapeutic music I can simply pull out my guitar like an old friend.
I sat down and logged onto my computer. (Yes, I’m an email addict, especially when in Anchorage.) I thought, hey, I’ll google this guy… as a semipro musician, he may have a website.
Then came the madness… I did find a search result for the musician’s name, which I am not disclosing here, for a Wikipedia page. Drilling down to read it, I learned that if indeed this was the same guy - and it is an unusual name with age and skills that match - he was a music teacher who had been fired from a local high school a decade ago after being charged with seven counts of felony child sexual abuse of a minor who was a student. After pleading no contest to one charge, the other charges were dropped and he served five years in prison.
Ugh. It’s like peeking behind the scenes and finding a cesspool. As a disclaimer, it’s Wikipedia, which may or may not be entirely accurate. I’ve deleted the music from my iTunes - what the heck do I do with the CD? And I have to wonder, does Borders know the history — and if it is correct, is it my business to tell them?
I am very sad. So much talent, such beautiful music… utterly spoiled, at least for me.
Posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 by Jeri
Under: music | 11 Comments »


We went to a Billy Joel concert at KeyArena last night. It was perhaps the best show I’ve ever been to.